-LRB- CNN Student News -RRB- -- March 3 , 2010

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• Chile • Iraq and Kuwait • China

Transcript

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT . THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED .

CARL AZUZ , CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR : The earthquake in Chile was so powerful , it might have affected time ! I 'm Carl Azuz . You 're tuned in to CNN Student News !

First Up : Chile Earthquake

AZUZ : Aftershocks , still rumbling across parts of Chile . At least a dozen were recorded from Monday to Tuesday . This quake left thousands of residents without food , without water , without electricity and other just basic services . Yesterday morning , the country 's president said that all emergency measures should be in place by the end of the day . Of course , the international community is pitching in , too . Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Chile Tuesday , bringing along some supplies and promising that more help is on the way . Secretary Clinton also praised Chile for how prepared it was to respond to this kind of disaster and for how well the nation has responded so far .

So , what 's with that point we mentioned at the beginning of the show about the earthquake affecting time ? Well , according to one scientist , the quake was so powerful it 's possible that it affected the Earth 's rotation . Based on this scientist 's calculations , it should have shortened the length of a day by one-and-a-quarter microseconds . Of course , this is the second major quake to strike recently . Haiti suffered a 7.0-magnitude quake in January . And while that tremor was n't as powerful as the one in Chile , the devastation that it caused seems to have been significantly worse . Joe Johns examines some of the reasons why .

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JOE JOHNS , CNN CORRESPONDENT : The quake in Haiti was a 7.0 , killing more than 200,000 people . The quake in Chile registered 8.8 , as much as 800 times stronger . The death toll less than a thousand so far .

Why is that ? Geography , for one thing . The Port-au-Prince quake was in shallow earth , 15 miles from the city . The Chile quake was 30 miles off the coast , deep under water .

History is another factor . No one alive remembers the series of earthquakes that hit Haiti in the 1700s . But Chile 's experience is much more recent ; more than 28 quakes in the 20th century , including the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in 1960 . All of which has led Chile to put in and adhere to strict building codes .

Chile learned its lessons the hard way , making engineering the biggest factor of all that sets Chile and Haiti apart .

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Iraq Appoints Ambassador

AZUZ : Moving to the Middle East now . Iraq has selected an ambassador to Kuwait for the first time in two decades . Here 's some background on this for you : Kuwait borders Iraq to the south . And in August of 1990 , Iraq invaded Kuwait . That led to `` Operation Desert Storm ; '' part of the Gulf War , when a U.S.-led coalition liberated Kuwait from Iraq in 1991 . Iraq was controlled by Saddam Hussein back then . And since he was removed from power in 2003 , Iraq and Kuwait have been building ties . This week 's announcement is the latest step in that process .

I.D. Me

TOMEKA JONES , CNN STUDENT NEWS : See if you can I.D. Me ! I 'm a government agency that dates back to colonial times . I was first run by Benjamin Franklin . According to my unofficial motto , `` neither snow nor rain nor heat '' will keep my couriers from delivering the mail . I 'm the U.S. Postal Service , and my funding does n't come from tax dollars , only from the money my business makes .

Postal Service Delivery

AZUZ : That business is n't doing so well . At the end of last September , the Postal Service was $ 10 billion in debt ! And the agency says it could lose more than $ 200 billion in the next 10 years unless it is allowed to make some changes . This is why we say `` allowed '' : The Post Office is an independent agency , but Congress controls how it does business . And lawmakers would have to approve some of the changes that the Post Office is considering . Among those , no more mail delivery on Saturdays . Plus , the service would look to close some branches and raise some of its prices . The postmaster general , the man who runs the Post Office , says that it 'll take a big effort to turn things around .

JOHN POTTER , U.S. POSTMASTER GENERAL : If we make the changes that are necessary , we can continue to provide universal service for America for decades to come . But there are some very significant changes that are gon na have to be made to the service that we offer and to the way we conduct our business on a daily basis .

GM Recalls

AZUZ : Recalls : We 've heard about a lot of those recently . Now , American carmaker General Motors , GM , is making a recall that affects 1.3 million vehicles in the U.S , Canada and Mexico . The problem : a potential failure in the cars ' power steering . GM started investigating this problem more than a year ago . The company says it develops over time , so it 's more likely to affect vehicles that have been driven 20,000 to 30,000 miles . GM says it 's working on a solution to all of this . In the meantime , a company spokesman says the recall is `` the right thing to do for our customers ' peace of mind . ''

Shoutout

MATT CHERRY , CNN STUDENT NEWS : Today 's Shoutout goes out to Mr. O'Connell 's AP Human Geography classes at Penn High School in Mishawaka , Indiana ! In what country would you find the world 's fastest train ? Is it : A -RRB- China , B -RRB- France , C -RRB- Japan or D -RRB- United States ? You 've got three seconds -- GO ! The world 's fastest train zooms through China at well over 200 miles per hour . That 's your answer and that 's your Shoutout !

Railway Expansion

AZUZ : With the largest population in the world -- 1.3 billion people -- China is making a huge investment in helping those folks get around the country by rail . Now , trains might sound kind of old school ; you might think stagecoaches or something like that . But modern railways pollute less than planes ; they 're far faster than cars . Building them takes money , though . And in China 's case , we 're talking about stimulus money . Emily Chang reports from the railways .

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EMILY CHANG , CNN CORRESPONDENT , BEIJING : Beijing 's newest train station looks like a modern airport , and a ride on its bullet train is nearly as fast as taking a plane . China 's high-speed trains have come a long way from the steam engines that once chugged into the capital before economic reforms in the 1980s transformed long-distance transportation . This is how the majority of people travel across China . Old trains like this go as slow as 55 kilometers per hour . When it 's crowded , it 's standing room only and the journey can take days .

But that 's no longer the only option . China is now home to the world 's fastest train , hurtling from Wuhan to Guangzhou at more than 350 kilometers per hour . This train is so fast , it 's threatened airline ticket sales . China Southern Airlines is struggling to compete on this particular route as high-speed railways change the way Chinese people travel across this vast country .

China is spinning a web of high-speed railways with faster connections than ever before . The government plans to extend 3,000 current kilometers of high-speed track to 12,000 by 2012 . Estimated cost : $ 360 billion U.S. , or 60 % of the stimulus package China enacted to combat the financial crisis .

JOHN GONG , CHINA ECONOMICS EXPERT : If you 're investing in a high-speed railway system , you 're sending checks to two million workers that are involved in the railway industry . So , that 's a very easy call to make , politically .

CHANG : China 's rail system is now arguably the most advanced in the world . U.S. company General Electric is collaborating with Beijing on technology to modernize America 's own aging rail network . While nowhere close to China 's investment , President Obama has committed $ 8 billion to high-speed rail .

U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA : Our nation has always been built to compete . There 's no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains .

CHANG : Just like interstate highways transformed the United States , faster trains in China will bring infrastructure , investment and passengers to destinations deep in the countryside . Critics counter China is overbuilding and that tickets on fast trains are too expensive for average citizens . But with living standards rising , more and more will be able and willing to pay to satisfy the need for speed . Emily Chang , CNN , Beijing .

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Women 's History Month

AZUZ : March is Women 's History Month . And we 're helping students recognize the achievements of women with our free Women 's History Month materials . These Discussion Questions and Activities help students explore the roles of women in fields like science , government and sports . You can find the free resources in the Spotlight section -- you know where to go -- CNNStudentNews.com .

Before We Go

AZUZ : And finally , we 're digging up some dirt on a man who lives in California . This is Wayne Daniels . And Wayne likes tulips ... a lot ! He plants 3,200 of them every year , and then sits back and watches his yard turn into a budding botanical garden . To most people , the retired teacher is simply known as `` the Tulip Man . '' Wayne spends hundreds of hours planning and planting every year . Some people might think it 's sort of a silly tradition .

Goodbye

AZUZ : But you wo n't hear something like that from our two lips . CNN Student News returns tomorrow . We hope you will return and watch us again then . Bye now !

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Consider the difference in impact of earthquakes in Chile and Haiti

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Find out why the U.S. Postal Service might be making some changes

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Take a ride on China 's high-speed rail system , the fastest in the world

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Use the Daily Discussion to help students understand today 's featured news stories